


Makes Right

by Wolkemesser



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: Dominaria, F/F, Garna, Radha - Freeform, keld, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 16:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18664237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolkemesser/pseuds/Wolkemesser
Summary: The conflict between new an old keld is a bitter one. But perhaps a fruitful alliance can still come of it.(For MtG Month of the Ship Day 28 - Proposal)





	Makes Right

Even from a far distance, it was clear who was approaching.

Radha stood atop the high rise of the foothill, watching her constant opponent and their modest warhost stalk toward her across the open plain. It wasn’t just the glowing wounds and black leather armor that marked the host as Garna’s so much as their unique gait; the stride of warriors who had been raised on the mindset of old Keld, but also seen its strongest advocate ground into the dust multiple times.

A vicious smile crawled across Radha’s lips. She turned to the viashino at her side.

“Skive, have the host line up along the hills.” Radha hefted her sword over her broad shoulders. “They could use a bit of entertainment after the slow week we’ve been having.”

Skive nodded and relayed the order back to the others. Radha started down the slope, humming and appraising the force amassed before her.

Garna’s stride was the most distinctive of all. Obviously she marched at the head of her warhost, but even if she’d been standing in the middle of an army Radha could have picked out her movements. Confident and eager, but tempered now with experience that few keldons as belligerent as she lived to acquire.

Once they came within a hundred paces of each other, Garna’s warhost came to a stop, and began to spread out into their own semi-circle.

Two grand audiences. As it should be.

A thrill of anticipation went up Radha’s spine, and not just from the cheers of the warhost at her back. They had tamed so much of the land around Keld and Skyshroud now, all of it thriving like it hadn’t for hundreds of years, but that mean no more foes worth fighting. Garna was the last warrior she could really sink her teeth into these days.

The two warlord continued the march toward each other. When the space between them closed to about five paces, they stopped.

“This will be eight beatings now, little one.” Radha the last two words drag out until they were almost their own sentence. “You must be quite the leader that so many ‘real keldons’ have stuck with you through so much disappointment.”

Garna’s muscles tensed. Her arms looked thicker than ever, Radha noted with approval. A good Keldon in stature and temperament, if not in vision. “They follow strength, just like your host.”

It was a strangely civil reply. Radha was almost taken aback.

Garna pursed her lips and hefted her axe up in front of her chest. Radha did not move to take a defensive position of her own, but her fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword. Garna moved faster than most warriors could with a weapon that heavy, and her blows were strong. Strong enough to knock a weapon out of another warlord’s hands if their grip wasn’t ironclad.

Then Garna did something strange. She grasped the axe by the blade with one hand, and extended the handle out to Radha.

“What’s this?”

“It’s…a peace offering.” Garna’s face was calmer than Radha had ever seen it. There was still that warrior’s fire burning in her eyes, and the anger was still there, but none of it felt directed at Radha. “I need your help.”

Radha took the axe, though her eyes never left Garna’s.

“Speak, then.”

“I’ve lived my life as a true daughter of Keld. I will never regret that. Garna clenched her fists, which ignited with the deathly blaze of the bloodflame. “My conviction has given me the strength to give my host the glory of the keldon twilight, and so they pledged their lives to me. But now…” She let her hands fall to her sides, and the fire dimmed. “…now I am responsible for lives that I cannot feed on combat alone.”

Garna’s warhost had spread out completely now. Radha frowned. There were too many children among them. There were always young warriors in the host, of course, but arrayed around them now were one barely old enough to stand, and even infants, still clinging to their parents.

“I can’t give them what they need. My warriors have children now. Spouses. Needs beyond battle. The bloodflame…I can bring them back from a hundred battles, but I can’t feed their children while none of my warriors can grow crops. I can’t clothe them or keep them sheltered when every man, elf, goblin and viashino with the skills to build and sew and any scrap of sense leaves to live with the warriors who will protect them and…and treat them as equals.”

The flames went out entirely.

“Fighting back death won’t give my warhost lives worth living. I need… _they_ need a better leader for that.”

Radha nodded. “And so they’re my responsibility now? Just like that?”

“Please.” It wasn’t a request. Warlords didn’t issue requests, only orders. “You’ve made something none of our ancestors could have. A self-sufficient Keld. A Keld that will grow not just because of strength of arms but because it wants to make every member strong, and is willing to sacrifice the appearance of strength to nurture the real thing. That is what they need, not just to throw themselves uselessly on the spears of their enemies again and again.”  

Radha glanced again at Garna’s host. “And you told them all that?”

“I told them what I intended by coming here. The rest went without saying.”

Radha nodded. Humility. Not a very Keldon trait, but as she had learned in her own ascendancy, a useful trait in bettering oneself. That was admirable.

“What do you have to offer me, Garna? To show me your sincerity, and why I should accept your host without any reservations.”

“I offer myself.” Garna clapped a hand to her chest. “As your servant, as your hand, as your victim, if the laws of this new Keld demand my life for my failures. Please take these warriors under your protection, and do with me whatever you see fit.” She began to kneel.

Radha let the axe and sword fall to the ground as her hand shot out to seize Garna by the chin and pull her to her feet.

“A keldon doesn’t grovel, old or new.” They were face to face now, close enough that the fire in Garna’s eyes warmed Radha’s cheeks. “And if you plan to stand at my side, I’ll expect you to stand tall.”

Garna nodded, as best she was able. There was relief in her eyes. Relief…and something else. Something that lit a fire in Radha’s own chest. Something that spurred Radha to say what came next.

“The benalish sealed unions of their houses with marriage. The balduvians and the kjeldorans before them did likewise. Pale nations compared to ours, but perhaps they were onto something.” Radha’s hand released Garna’s chin and slid up to cup her cheek. When she spoke this time, she roared, for both warhosts to hear. “Garna, strongest and last of the relics of old Keld, will you fight by my side until death, for the life of new Keld?”

“Yes.” Garna’s voice boomed from plain to hill. “Until I breathe my last, yes.”

Radha leaned in close. “Prove it.”

Garna seized Radha on either side of her head and pulled her down into a kiss. Passionate, hungry, and furious. Flames of mana engulfed them. Green, red, and black blazing together as their warhosts cheered and screamed. The raged cries of Garna’s warriors mingling with the audible vitality of Radha’s. Their exultation fed the mana flare, joy of the host bolstering their leaders, and their leaders in turn, with their strength and conviction, bolstering the now unified host of new Keld. Even when their faces parted, the wreath of mana around them only burned brighter and higher.

“This is the worst,” Radha muttered as she ran a thumb along Garna’s jaw. “Who am I supposed to fight now?”

Garna smirked up at her. “Better watch your back warlord. If you think I’ll stop fighting you just because you’ve made me your wife, you’re dead wrong.”

 

_The above is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC._


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